I am
96% confident of these two lists. They are more accurate than
any other list I have seen.

Most
of you have probably seen at least a picture of this imposing, ~6 foot
tall marble tablet listing the names of the popes buried in St. Peter’s,
under the Latin inscription SUMMI PONTIFICES IN HAC BASILICA
SEPULTI
(Supreme Pontiffs buried in this Basilica).

This tablet, in St. Peter’s is to the right of the
entrance to the sacristy – that being the rather large ‘annex’ to the
left of the main Basilica (when facing it).
You reach it from the left aisle
under the huge monument to Pius VIII(#254),
pictured below.

The
Vatican’s marble tablet lists 148 popes up to and including John Paul II(#266).

This 148 number is optimistic.

The actual number of popes now believed
to be buried within
the precincts of St. Peter's is 137,
possibly 138
or maybe 139
-- and that includes the originalStephen (II)(#92),
a bona fide pope albeit for four days, who is indeed buried there though NOT listed in
the marble
tablet.

WHY THE
DISCREPANCY?The problem is that the list on the
tablet does not reflect some bodies that were transferred away from St.
Peter’s after they had been initially buried there.

St. Sixtus I
(#7)
is a good example. There is a wonderful story
about what happened to the body of Sixtus I (which I recounted in my first book). Tradition maintains that
Sixtus I was martyred
(though this was unlikely)
and buried under what is now St.
Peter’s Basilica. It is also said that in 1132 Innocent II
(#165), at the bidding of the residents of Alife
[Italy],
granted them Sixtus I’s relics. But the mule carrying the relics from
Rome refused to go beyond Alatri
[Italy]. So,
the relics were interned at the Alatri Cathedral with Alfie just getting
a finger bone.

But, his name appears on the marble tablet, thus making us rethink that
old adage about things chiseled in stone – in this case, ‘soft,’ most
likely Carrera, marble.

Here is THE list of the
13 popes
that appear on the marble tablet but have since
been translated to other locations:

However, that has to be offset by
2
popes that are not on the marble tablet, but are indeed buried at St.
Peter's. These two are:
Stephen (II)(#92)
&
John XI (#126).

Then we have Leo VIII
(#132).
Nobody knows where he is buried. Some suspect that he is indeed buried
at St. Peter's. So he gets the benefit of the doubt.

We also have the same problem with the pope hat succeeded him, Benedict V
(#133).
Again nobody can determine where he was buried. However, in his case,
people are not as sure whether he is buried at St. Peter's.

So here is how the numbers reconcile. 148 on the tablet. But we know 13
were translated away. So that is 148-13 which gives us 135. Then we
have to ADD Stephen (II) and John XI.
That takes us up to
137.

Whether we then add Leo VIII and Benedict V dictates whether we go with
138
or
139.

OK? Get the drift. Study the list.

MULTIPLE PHASES
We also need to take into account that today’s magnificent Basilica, in
its current grandiose form, now the second largest in the world, hasn’t
always been there.

Initially, c. 60 AD, it was an open field, on top of
a mound, on the outskirts of Rome. There was no building or structure.
We have to take it on faith that those that succeeded
St. Peter
(#1)
were buried close to him.

St.
Anacletus
(#3), c.76/79 – c.88/92, had a monument
(possibly
a chapel)
built over St. Peter’s tomb. That was the first structure.

In
the fourth century, at the behest of
Emperor Constantine the Great
a small Basilica was built on this site – the so called Old St. Peter’s
or the Constantine Basilica.
St. Leo ‘the great’ I(#45),
in 461, was the first pope
to be buried in this Basilica.

In the sixteenth century, Julius
‘the warrior
pope’
II
(#217), of the
Sistine Ceiling fame, commissioned Donato Bramante,
the great Italian architect, to build a bigger, grander Basilica around
the by now dilapidated old structure. In time the incomparable Michelangelo Buonarroti,
having finished the ceiling, designed the imposing timeless dome.
Bramante had to do away with nearly all the papal tombs that were
located in the old Basilica. Many of the remains were transferred to new
locations within the new Basilica.

THE
DEFINITIVE LISTS
Please click the pictorial icons below for THE definitive lists of where
the popes are buried. They are both relatively small PDFs;
i.e., under 150KB.

The color coding in the 'Final Burial' column, in
the Where All The Popes Are Buried
list, is used to demarcate the different locations, with the most
popular of the locations assigned a specific color to facilitate
identification.

A PAINSTAKINGLY RESEARCHED LIST
Those of you familiar with my work on papal history know that I try to
exploit contemporary technology to help with my work. Consequently to
obtain this list I used multiple Excel spreadsheets. I would enter as
much data as I could obtain from multiple sources and then 'crunch'
through that data looking for consistent results.

I am fairly confident of this list. Hence, my claim that these are THE
definitive lists. I have spent over 40 hours working on it. But, I can
only go by the data that I can find. If you can refine this list PLEASE
let me. This is not chiseled in stone. Thank you.